We have always known that the NetEqualizer is great (you have too!), but it is wonderful when it is validated by an independent publication. Today we learned that we were honored in the December 2014 edition of District Administration (http://www.districtadministration.com/), a publication geared to K-12 School leadership.

NetEqualizer made the 2014 list of Top 100 Products for K-12 Schools!

The December 2014 Cover Story is the annual Top 100 Products, viewable here in the District Administration online article. According to the article, there were 2,400 unique nominations for the Top 100 this year, up from 1,800 in 2013. Winners were selected by the editorial board based on quality and quantity of the testimonials submitted from readers.

So, a big THANK YOU to the readers that submitted us for inclusion in the Top 100! We would not have received this honor without you. We truly appreciate you taking the time to say nice things about us, especially as we rely heavily on word of mouth to get our story out to our customers. If you would like to see our listing, we are listed under “Net Equalizer”.

As we have not advertised in this publication in the past, and did not solicit inclusion for this award in any way, this took us completely by (happy) surprise.

As Lauren Williams of District Administration mentions in her introduction to the winners, “This annual award alerts superintendents and other senior school leaders to the best products their colleagues around the country are using to help their districts excel.” So, if you have not seen the winners, take a look, you might find a product that is a good fit for your K-12 School.

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Although somewhat overshadowed by the major news stories developing around the world in recent weeks, those of us in the tech industry have seen no shortage of attention paid to the impending changes surrounding IPv4. Just today, I read a few articles about how the world has run out of IPv4 addresses. I also recently received a survey about our specific plans for IPv6.

Even with all of this media attention, however, there are many questions that still remain (one of which we’ve decided to use for a new contest). While we can’t answer all of them, we’d at least like to chime in about a few.

Will a switch to IPv6 really reduce the need for IPv4?

Despite its availability, no one will choose to completely convert to IPv6 until the rest of the world knows how to send and receive it. To do so would be communication suicide. Only when there is a near full conversion to IPv6 could you reliably use it to exclusively communicate. This creates a paradox of sorts: In order to remain accessible to all, you must retain your old IPv4 address.

This is easier said than done for some.

While there are certainly products and services to forward your mail when you establish an IPv6 address, what about a new company established from scratch with no pre-existing Web presence? When the owners call their ISP to obtain an address for their new website, instead of the simple exchange that may have taken place in the past, the conversation will go a little like this:

ISP: “We ran out of IPv4 addresses last week, but don’t worry, we are going to hook you up with a brand-spanking-new IPv6 address and you should be good to go.”

Business Owner: “So, how do the people that don’t speak IPv6 contact me?”

ISP: “Don’t worry. We’ll handle the conversions for you, like the postal office forwards your mail when you move.”

Business Owner: “Yes, but I did not have an existing address. I am a new company.”

Therefore, new companies must not only establish an IPv6 address, but they must also somehow scrounge up an old IPv4 address to prevent being cut off from the percentage of the world that has not switched over.

The point is that even with IPv6, there will be no immediate relief on the IPv4 address space (Fortunately, viable alternatives do exist).

So, when will IPv4 be obsolete?

We have no idea exactly when, but based on the discussion above, we don’t think it will happen any time soon.

What does it mean to be completely switched over to IPv6?

This question will only be answered over time, and even then, it will be open to various interpretations. However, to better track the implementation of IPv6, and to facilitate our understanding of it, we’ve decided to establish a contest.

The Contest

Note: The following is a contest overview. Official contest rules and registration details will be revealed in our April newsletter (click here to register for the upcoming newsletter).

First, you must register for the contest and provide all required information. The registration link will be included in the April NetEqualizerNews newsletter and posted on the NetEqualizer News Blog after our newsletter goes out next month.

Winners will be awarded based on predicting the date of the actual adoption of IPv6 worldwide (see below).

If no entries are entered for the actual date, then the prize will be awarded to the next closest prediction after the date of switchover.

One entry per person. Duplicate registrations will disqualify an entrant.

Entrants must be 18 years of age or older on the date of entry.

If more than one contestant chooses the winning date, the $10,000 USD prize will be divided equally among winners.

APconnections will monitor and announce when the world has switched over to IPv6 based on the following criteria:

The winning date shall be determined by the first time/date we can actively verify that any set of 50 companies with revenue of over $5 million USD per year has changed its public-facing Internet addresses to a full 128-bit address.

None of the 50 qualifying companies can be using any form of an older IPv4 address for any public communications with the Internet (i.e., e-mail servers, publicly accessible Web pages administered or licensed to the company).

None of the 50 qualifying companies shall be using any special conversion equipment to translate between IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Internal IPv6 intranet conversions do not qualify.

All public addresses at qualifying companies must use an address with more than 32 bits (greater than 255.255.255.255).

To be valid for the contest award, IPv6 worldwide adoption criteria date must be validated and published by the APconnections engineering staff and not by any other third party. Please feel free to help us by sending the names of any companies using IPv6 for verification.

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Starting this month, we’ll offer all current and prospective NetEqualizer users a $150-credit toward your next NSS license. All you have to do is send us a link to your publicly accessible website featuring a short write-up or testimonial about the NetEqualizer.

For those of you who are not currently planning renewals, keep in mind that we will be releasing our formal IPv6 compatibility this summer. Since the time that you will need to be IPv6 compatible is fast approaching, this voucher offer couldn’t have come at a better time.

If you not currently a customer, feel free to jot some notes about why you’re considering the NetEqualizer or what you like about our technology (you don’t need to purchase anything to enter). Please feel free to be honest in your write-up, but while it doesn’t have to be a glowing review, obviously the more positive the better.

If the $150 voucher wasn’t enough, also being given away through random drawing are three complementary full NSS-license renewals and three $100 Amazon gift cards.

To qualify, your Web page must clearly identify your company or organization or the name and professional background of the poster if you’re not associated with a company.

Links must be received NO LATER THAN June 1, 2010.

We will send a voucher identifier for $150 toward your next NSS purchase, that must be redeemed no later than June 1, 2011. All vouchers will expire on June 1, 2011.

For more information, or to email your link, contact us at admin@apconnections.net.

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Over the past few years, we’ve made a game of putting together lists of celebrities, politicians, and other notable Internet users who may have experienced the benefits of the NetEqualizer via our customers’ networks (click here for more).

While we get our fair share of leads from casual conversations with NetEqualizer users, we’ve decided to make telling your story a little more enticing. So, we’re offering a limited number of $25 gift certificates to any operator willing to tell us of the notable Internet users that have experienced the NetEqualizer simply by being a guest on their network. Good rumors welcome! :)

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Every few months, we have a drawing to give away two roundtrip domestic airline tickets from Frontier Airlines to one lucky person who’s recently tried out our online NetEqualizer demo. The time has come to announce this round’s winner.

I am a long term resident of Drumheller, Alberta. I was born and raised in Drumheller and have lived in the town for most of my adult life.

At a fairly young age, I developed a huge interest in computers, and basically everything electronic in nature. I was intrigued by a device that could do so much, yet is so commonly misunderstood.

I feel that my interest in computers was the main reason for starting this company, and first and formost our goal is to stay on the leading edge of what technology can do. In this industry more than any other, a few months of neglect can lead to a significant loss in the understanding of what the industry is doing, and where the industry is heading.

I spend a large portion of my “free” time dedicating myself to research and development of the latest trend or gadget in the technology sector.

I do however have many other passions. Growing up, I was very much into hockey and other sports. I was involved in Drumheller Minor Hockey for many years, and I am glad to see Drumheller Minor hockey developing, especially now with Drumheller having a Junior A hockey team.

Travel is a huge interest of mine, and I have been to a lot of the globe already, but that still amounts to only a small percentage of where I still have yet to go. I find the different cultures across our planet have a lot to teach us. In North America in general, and specifically I find in Alberta, we are a very driven culture, set to push the limits of what our body can handle in terms of stress load, and work load. It has been a real eye opening experience to see how some other very different cultures interact.

If I had to describe myself in a few words, I would say I am very driven, compassionate, and open minded. In regards to the latter, it cannot be said enough that the more we learn, the more we realize that we truely understand very little.

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Ok, are you ready for a great deal? All you have to do is send us an email with the names of the last 3 tech magazines you have read (specify if online or print), as well as the last trade show you attended. Of course, also include your name and mailing address so we can get a $15 Starbucks giftcard mailed out to you.

Please note giftcards will be limited to the first 50 replies so email us today! Put “My Tech News” in the subject line and send it to admin@apconnections.net.

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Hopefully it’s no secret to you that we offer a fantastic Netequalizer Demo on our website. We were so confident that users would love the Netequalizer after demoing it that we announced our Flyaway Contest earlier in the year to reward a new user.

To be eligible, all you had to do was register on our demo site within the past four months. The winner was chosen at random and is rewarded a pair of roundtrip domestic discount tickets on Frontier Airlines – a $525 value!

Our last Flyaway Contest Winner of 2007 was DANIEL DUARTE of http://www.homex.com.mx/ who was announced in the Netequalizer December 2007 Newsletter released earlier this month. If you would like to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, please email us at admin@apconnections.net and we’ll get you our January 2008 edition.

If you want a chance to be our next Flyaway Contest Winner chosen in early spring 2008, then go to http://www.Netequalizer.com and register for our cool demo! You will be impressed!

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See for yourself.

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